-- deepwater horizon disaster in the gulf. the failed times square bomber had succeeded. scientists discover a so-called goldilocks planet they say may be able to support life. those stories and much more straight ahead. this is first look on msnbc.

we begin this morning with congressional cramming. hoping to get a head start on re-election campaigns lawmakers in washington pushed through a slew of legislation before an early adjournment yesterday. even the decision to adjourn was not without controversy. and back on the home front already angry constituents may be most frustrated by what congress didn't get done. nbc's tracie potts has more for us from washington. good morning to you. >> good morning. no decision on taxes. democratic leaders on both sides of congress said they would adjourn without dealing with that issue whether or not to extend the bush tax cuts past the end of this year. the house barely made it out, though, by one vote in what ended up being a referendum on taxes. after an impassioned speech by house minority leader john boehner, 39 democrats agreed with him but in the end decided to leave washington without dealing with that issue. but there was a flurry of

activity on several other fronts. a nasa bill passed that will deal with the future of that program. major changes. it appears the shuttle and space station programs. also the house agreed to pass a bill to provide health care for 9/11 workers, for those who worked down at ground zero. finally, they agreed to a budget stop-gap measure that will allow the government to continue operating past today, which is the end of the fiscal year. so now lawmakers head home and they're dealing with an angry electorate just weeks before november's elections. veronica. >> tracie potts in washington. meg whitman, the republican candidate for governor of california is facing a political firestorm after allegations she knowingly employed an illegal immigrant. during a news conference with high profile lawyer gloria allred yesterday her former housekeeper claims the candidate was alerted about her immigration status in 23 but did not fire her until last year.

in a statement, whitman, who has specifically campaigned to hold those employing illegal immigrants responsible dismissed the claims as politically motivated and insisted she only found out about the status last year at which point she said she immediately fired the maid. across europe yesterday, tens of thousands protested massive government spending cuts aimed at trying to dig the european union out of the economic slump. in poland, portugal, greece, ireland and elsewhere. in spain where the unemployment rate is almost 20% parts of the transportation system was brought to a stand still. this came as the european commission ix poses new fines on those who fail to improve finances. police in europe had to deal with concerns about what's being described as a mumbai style terror plot aimed at england, france and germany. although they say there is no imminent threats security was beefed up at various landmarks

including buckingham palace. authorities say the plot originated in pakistan. that country's border has seen a reason uptick in predator drone attack although a senior ter 86 official says there's no connection between the strikes and european threat. a hot topic thanks in part to bob woodward's new book "obama's wars." last night on nbc "the last word with lawrence o'donnell" he asked him to wie in on what the white house has called a deliberative approach the president has taken in afghanistan. >> this is the conflict within obama, quite frankly. he's commander in chief. he knows and he committed himself in the campaign to make this the war we were going to pay attention to. but intellectually, he looks at the data, the intelligence on the afghan war and there's a lot of dreary, negative news. in fact, just back in may he

came out of one of the monthly reviews, the top secret kind of assessments they make in the situation room of the white house and said, given this definition of the problem, i don't know how we come up with a solution. so this is a war that hangs in the balance. it's not clear where it's going. and this is the portrait of him unvarnished, unspun, detail after detail meeting db there are thousands of words where he's talking, where he's asking questions. you're absolutely right, it's different from bush. bush's meetings were essentially, my gut tells me we should invade iraq, how are we going to do it? >> you don't want to miss "the last word with lawrence o'donnell" week nights at 10:00 p.m. eastern right here on ms c msnbc. in california, police are looking for a robbery suspect

wanted in a violent purse snatching attempt. a man approached a woman from behind and grabbed her purse. when she refused to let go, the suspect violently threw her on the ground and dragged her, punching her several times before running away. the victim suffered minor cuts and bruises. a missouri man is behind bars after leading police on a high speed chase that at one point crossed over into kansas and back to missouri in a stolen vehicle. the suspect caused some mayhem along the way speeding through an intersection and colliding into two vehicles at 85 miles per hour. the suspect gave up when the vehicle's tires blew out. in ohio, officials are investigating a bizarre car accident that resulted in a car going airborne, flipping several times and landing vertically on the front porch of a house. several tow trucks were required to remove the vehicle but amazingly, the driver survived with non-life threatening injuries.

and just off the coast of florida, scientists are getting up close and personal with a goliath grouper. a 400-pound, six foot long mystery fish which a decade ago was rarely ever seen. scientists hope to learn more about the endangered species which gather in this only known documented spot to mate. now for a look at the national weather, we turn to msnbc meteorologist bill karins for a look at the weather channel forecast. you know, bill, that's the reason i just don't scuba dive. i don't want to come face to face with anything. >> i thought you were going to say didn't want to be a peeping tom scuba diver. >> no, not that. but sharks, even big fish, no thanks. >> to each their own. maybe a cage would do you some good. let's talk about the messy, messy forecast up the east coast. as expected, this huge storm is coming up the eastern seaboard. almost like a nor'easter type event. high gusty winds on the coast, pretty large waves. and the biggest problem just the

heavy, heavy rains. already have numerous problems in north carolina. the storm itself is now over the carolinas tracking due north. it has to go all the way up through northern new england before it clears the area. gorgeous weather for the middle of the country moves to the east coast friday and saturday. first things first. tornado watch has been issued until 1:00. there's been a couple of tornadoes overnight, weak ones but nonetheless a few tornadoes. this red box just south of philadelphia. does include the baltimore area. right on the border through d.c. pretty much all of eastern virginia and eastern north carolina is under this tornado watch. again, we have a couple warnings out there near virginia beach at this time. but that's about it. so we'll watch isolated weak tornadoes. i don't think we're going to see a tornado outbreak but could see weaker ones. these bands of rain have been impressive. the center of the storm you can see a spin as it heads up toward raleigh. but these streamers off the coast we're getting drenched and a training rain effect. flash flood warnings through

much of eastern north carolina. now that heavy rain is making its way through d.c., baltimore and philadelphia. and now the rain is beginning on long island and new york city. it's going to be a very rough morning commute all along i-95. the winds will be picking up during the day today but the heaviest rain looks to be from d.c. to baltimore to philly and eastern portions of pennsylvania are going to see a lot of rain. our computers are estimating anywhere between three to five inches of rain in this area with the bull's eye somewhere near i-95. your forecast today, veronica, middle of the country fantastic. wherever we are on the east coast this is probably one of the worst weather days in a long time. >> excellent, bill. thanks for that. you're going to need an umbrella and then some i guess. oil climbs. scary foreclosure numbers. and mcdonald's threatens benefits. the "first look" at business straight ahead. a first for david ortiz. one of the craziest endings you'll see.

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welcome back to "first look." i'm veronica della cruz. here are the top stories making news. newly released footage shows the potentially devastating power of the times square bomb discovered in an suv last may. had it not failed law enforcement officials say it would have killed dozens. feisal shahzad faces sentencing next week. the two koreas ended the first talk in years without any progress. pyongyang refused to accept the findings of an international investigation that found it responsible. two americans competing in an international balloon race are missing after flying over the adriatic sea in thunderstorms tuesday. italian and croatian authorities are searching for the pair who have survival suits, life jackets and rafts in their

balloon. astronomers say they have discovered the first planet beyond our solar system that could have the right conditions to support life. the new planet some 20 light years away from earth is being referred to by scientists as a goldilocks planet since it's not too hot, not too cold but just right for possible human habitation. and now here's your "first look" at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 10,835 after losing 22 points yesterday. the s&p dipped two points and nasdaq fell three. overseas trading this morning in tokyo the nikkei dropped 190 points while in hong kong the hang seng dropped 20. dollar took another dip thanks to speculation over stimulus from the fed. investors convinced the federal reserve will pour more money into the economy. they backed away from the greenback sending it to a new low against a basket of other

currencies. traders bought up safe bets pushing the price of gold to another fresh high above $1300 an ounce. energy stocks got a boost and bucked the downward trend after news of dwindling inventories fueled a rise in the price of crude. lawmaker advanced a bill that would allow the u.s. to tax goods exported from china in response to the recent decision to keep its currency artificially low against the dollar. today chinese officials called it a breach of world trade organization policy. according to a new industry report, nearly one in every four homes sold in the second quarter was a foreclosed home. adding to the nation's foreclosure mess, jpmorgan chase announced yesterday it will freeze foreclosures in about half the country over paperwork flaws. experts warn it's a problem that could exist industrywide. this morning's "wall street journal" reports mcdonald's is threatening to cut health insurance for some 30,000 hourly workers.

mcdonald's claims new health care laws for its so-called mini med insurance plans would be, quote, economically prohad i been tiv. keep an eye on boeing today. shares were up in late trade after the planemaker landed an eight-year, nearly $12 billion deal with the u.s. air force. and finally how the mighty have fallen. two years after lehman brothers filed for the biggest bankruptcy in u.s. history, the sign that once hung outside the company's london offices sold for almost $67,000 at auction yesterday. that is nearly 14 times its estimated price. the braves chop at their magic number. a wild walk-off win in texas and big poppy fails at small ball. indians may be playing but doesn't mean they aren't playing to win. ♪

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so i wanted a doctor who had done this before. and unitedhealthcare's database helped me find a surgeon. you know you can't have great legs, if you don't have good knees. we're 78,000 people looking out for 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare. welcome back to "first look." i'm veronica de la cruz. in sports the rays and yankees have clinched playoff spots but the division race is still up for grabs. here is fred rhogam. with everything remaining game it appears the a.l. east comes down to the final game. the rays gave away 20,000 free tickets. apparently that's the only way to sell out. the full house had little to cheer about. lined a triple into right. in came two and orioles won 2-0. yankees and blue jays honoring cito gaston retiring at the end of the season.

they wore fake mustaches to look like cito. most took them off when the game started except for snyder. must have been the hair. solo homer. yanks a half game back in the east. in atlanta the braves put up four in the third against the marlins. three-run bomb. the magic number to clinch the wild card is now two after a 5-1 win. great catch in the tigers/indians game. jackson shot to dry. crow drifted back, off-balance catch before hitting the wall. great grab by trevor. won 4-0. unheard of ending between mariners and indians. nelson cruz struck out but the ball got away from the catcher. cruz hustled down the line. the throw to first was in the dirt. he was safe. play at the plate an he was safe. game over. one of the craziest endings you'll ever see. rangers won 6-5. in chicago ortiz laid down a bunt. yeah, a bunt.

no surprise he was thrown out by a mile. everybody had a good laugh. look at white sox manager ozzie guillen does his own impression. a bunt and david used a wheelchair to get to first. anything goes when you have nothing to play for. white sox won it 5-2. that's the "first look" at sports. now for another quick look at the weather. bill karins. i think it's relatively unfair the way they cover baseball because there's so much coverage. i think maybe sports like figure skating should get that much air time. >> you don't have any like bias toward figure skating or anything, do you? >> nope, nope. >> you didn't do that for many years or anything? >> ten, but you know. >> that's it. we'll have to get some of that footage of your figure skating days. this is a horrible morning commute. we have high wind warning for new york city. the winds are going to be very gusty today along with some of the squally rains. we have flash flood warnings in effect for areas around d.c. and a tornado watch from

philadelphia southwards down along the coast. you can see the rain, the rain. the yellows where heavy rain is coming down. between philly and d.c. is the worst of it. now we have flash flood warnings for the entire d.c. metro area. they picked up a quick two to three inches of rain in some cases. it's still raining hard. some of the small streams are coming out of their banks. many road closures today. our computers are projecting the heaviest rains from d.c. to philly, maybe just outside of new york city up through the catskills. we're talking potential for maybe half a foot of rain in some cases. this will be about a 24-hour event. starts this morning and won't end until tomorrow morning. >> lots to look forward to. new york's bed bugs take to the airwaves. quite a run for tina fey lately but wait it gets better. the first look at entertainment is straight ahead.

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welcome back to firstlook. i'm veronica de la cruz. last night on "late night with jimmy fallon" he and justin timberlake were in sync. ♪ i said hip-hop ♪ to the hip-hop ♪ to the bang bang snut snut ♪

♪ ♪ >> wow, that was great. there was a whole lot of talent in that room last night. tonight jimmy welcomes breaking bad star and this week's "snl" host, yessy eisenberg and musical guest the vaselines. week nights at 12:35, 11:35 central time on your local nbc station. it is time now for your "first look" at entertainment news. new york's latest bed bug victim may be the only guy in the city who can talk away the bugs. radio shock jock howard stern's

manhattan office was infested. his sirius xm studio had to be fumigated while specially trained sniffer dogs also found the pests in his limo. now he's just trying to get over his paranoia saying he is scratching himself constantly. cnn's anderson cooper is close to a deal for a syndicated daytime talk show targeted to launch next fall. it would cover celebrities, pop culture, social issues and news stories. if the deal is done cooper would still continue hosting his show on cnn. and finally next month nbc's "30 rock" creator and star tina fey will become the third woman and youngest person ever to win the kennedy center's annual mark twain prize for american humor. fey will be saluted at the ceremony by among others former "saturday night live" cast members and newest bff betty white. congratulations to her. >> can i put a ban on all bed bug stories, please?

>> i know. >> it creeps me out. i don't even take the subway anymore because i heard stories they can jump from one person to another. i'm veronica de la cruz. this is "first look" on msnbc. stay tuned. after an entire grueling month back from summer recess, congress adjourns until mid-november to go home and get reelected. the question is, do they finally take care of those 9/11 rescue workers before taking care of themselves back in their districts? meanwhile the gubernatorial races in new york and california get ugly with new york republican carl pal dino nearly coming to blows with a reporter. and californian meg whitman faces about a former undocumented housekeeper. will either affect the campaigns? an update on the had hit sitcom "lawrence&levi." what did lawrence reveal last night about